illness of justinian—resolutions of the army consequent upon his supposed death—peter and john the glutton denounce belisarius and buzes—the latter put away and tortured—disgrace of belisarius—he is superseded by martin in the command of the army of the east—his treasures carried away by theodora—his friendship for antonina—his letter to belisarius—submission of the latter to his wife—division of his fortune—betrothal of joannina, his daughter, to anastasius, grandson of theodora—belisarius appointed count of the royal stable and again commander of the army in italy—comparison of the two expeditions.
about this time belisarius underwent another disgrace. the people of byzantium were ravaged by the pestilence of which i have already spoken. the emperor justinian was attacked by it so severely that it was reported that he had died. rumour spread these tidings abroad till they reached the roman camp, whereupon some of the chief officers said that, if the romans set up any other emperor in byzantium, they would not acknowledge him. shortly after this, the emperor recovered from his malady, whereupon the chiefs of the army accused one another of having used this language. the general peter, and john, surnamed “the glutton,” declared that belisarius and buzes had used the words which i have just quoted. the empress theodora, thinking that these words applied to herself, was greatly enraged. she straightway summoned all the commanders to byzantium to make an inquiry into the matter, and suddenly sent for buzes to come into her private apartments, on the pretext of discussing important matters of business with him. there was in the palace an underground building, which was securely fastened, and as complicated as a labyrinth, and which might be compared to the nether world, wherein she kept imprisoned most of those who had offended her. into this pit she cast buzes; and although he was of a consular family, nothing was known for certain concerning him; as he sat in the darkness, he could not tell day from night; nor could he ask, for he who flung him his daily food never spoke, but acted like one dumb beast with another. all thought him dead, but none dared to mention him or allude to him. two years and four months afterwards, theodora relented and released him, and he appeared in the world like one raised from the dead; but ever afterwards he was short-sighted and diseased in body. such was the fate of buzes.
belisarius, although none of the charges brought against him could be proved, was removed by the emperor, at the instance of theodora, from the command of the army in the east, which was given to martinus. the command of the doryphori8 and hypaspit?9 of belisarius, and of those of his servants who had distinguished themselves in war, was by his orders divided amongst the generals and certain of the palace eunuchs. they cast lots for these soldiers, together with their arms, and divided them amongst themselves as the lot fell. as for his friends and the many people who had before served under him, justinian forbade them to visit him. thus was seen in the city a piteous spectacle which men could scarce believe to be real, that of belisarius simply a private individual, almost alone, gloomy and thoughtful, ever dreading to be set upon and assassinated.
when the empress learned that he had amassed much treasure in the east; she sent one of the palace eunuchs to fetch it away to the court. antonina, as i have already said, was now at variance with her husband, and the nearest and dearest friend of the empress, because she had just destroyed john of cappadocia. to please antonina, the empress arranged everything in such a fashion that she appeared to have pleaded for her husband’s pardon, and to have saved him from these great disasters; whereby the unhappy man not only became finally reconciled to her, but her absolute slave, as though he had been preserved by her from death. this was brought about as follows:
one day belisarius came early to the palace as usual, accompanied by a small and miserable retinue. he was ungraciously received by the emperor and empress, and even insulted in their presence by low-born villains. he went home towards evening, often turning himself about, and looking in every direction for those whom he expected to set upon him. in this state of dread, he went up to his chamber, and sat down alone upon his couch, without a brave man’s spirit, and scarce remembering that he had ever been a man, but bathed with sweat, his head dizzy, trembling and despairing, racked by slavish fears and utterly unmanly thoughts. antonina, who knew nothing of what was going on, and was far from expecting what was about to come to pass, kept walking up and down the hall, on pretence of suffering from heartburn; for they still regarded each other with suspicion. meanwhile, an officer of the palace, named quadratus, came just after sunset, passed through the court, and suddenly appeared at the door of the men’s apartments, saying that he brought a message from the empress.
belisarius, on hearing him approach, drew up his hands and feet on to the bed, and lay on his back in the readiest posture to receive the final stroke, so completely had he lost his courage.
quadratus, before entering, showed him the empress’ letter. it ran as follows:
“you are not ignorant, my good sir, of all your offences against me; but i owe so much to your wife, that i have determined to pardon all your offences for her sake, and i make her a present of your life. for the future you may be of good cheer as regards your life and fortune: we shall know by your future conduct what sort of husband you will be to your wife!”
when belisarius read this, he was greatly excited with joy, and, as he wished at the same time to give some present proof of his gratitude, he straightway rose, and fell on his face at his wife’s feet. he embraced her legs with either hand, and kissed the woman’s ankles and the soles of her feet, declaring that it was to her that he owed his life and safety, and that hereafter he would be her faithful slave, and no longer her husband.
the empress divided belisarius’s fortune into two parts; she gave thirty centenars of gold to the emperor, and allowed belisarius to keep the rest. such was the fortune of the general belisarius, into whose hands fate had not long before given gelimer and vitiges as prisoners of war. the man’s wealth had for a long time excited the jealousy of justinian and theodora, who considered it too great, and fit only for a king. they declared that he had secretly embezzled most of the property of gelimer and vitiges, which belonged to the state, and that he had restored a small part alone, and one hardly worthy of an emperor’s acceptance. but, when they thought of what great things the man had done, and how they would raise unpopular clamour against themselves, especially as they had no ground whatever for accusing him of peculation, they desisted; but, on this occasion, the empress, having surprised him at a time when he was quite unmanned by fear, managed at one stroke to become mistress of his entire fortune; for she straightway established a relationship between them, betrothing joannina, belisarius’s only daughter, to her grandson anastasius.
belisarius now asked to be restored to his command, and to be nominated general of the army of the east, in order to conduct the war against chosroes and the medes, but antonina would not permit this; she declared that she had been insulted by her husband in those countries, and never wished to see them again.
for this reason belisarius was appointed constable,10 and was sent for a second time into italy, with the understanding, they say, with the emperor, that he should not ask for any money to defray the cost of this war, but should pay all its expenses out of his own private purse. everyone imagined that belisarius made these arrangements with his wife and with the emperor in order that he might get away from byzantium, and, as soon as he was outside the city walls, straightway take up arms and do some brave and manly deed against his wife and his oppressors. but he made light of all that had passed, forgot the oaths which he had sworn to photius and his other intimates, and followed his wife in a strange ecstasy of passion for her, though she was already sixty years of age.
when he arrived in italy, things went wrong with him daily, for he had clearly incurred the enmity of heaven. in his former campaign against theodatus and vitiges, the tactics which he had adopted as general, though they were not thought to be suitable to the circumstances, yet, as a rule, turned out prosperously: in this second campaign, he gained the credit of having laid his plans better, as was to be expected from his greater experience in the art of war; but, as matters for the most part turned out ill, people began to have a poor opinion of him and his judgment. so true it is that human affairs are guided, not by men’s counsel, but by the influence of heaven, which we commonly call fortune, because we see how events happen, but know not the cause which determines them. therefore, to that which seems to come to pass without reason is given the name of “chance.” but this is a subject upon which everyone must form his own opinion.
